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Couple seeking justice for infant baby’s death at hospital


The family of a newborn baby who died at Nyambene Sub-county Hospital, Meru County, over alleged negligence on the part of the hospital and its medical staff, now wants the facility to allow them to see the body of their daughter.

The family of Isaac Mwiti and Josephine Karimi lost a three-week-old baby at the hospital after reportedly staying in an incubator unattended for a whole night.

The family claims the nurse who was supposed to be on shift on the night of Wednesday June 18, 2019 at the hospital nursery did not report to work.

Josephine Karimi said that she delivered twins before her due delivery date.

“I delivered here and the babies were premature so they were put in the incubator,” said Karimi.

NURSE ON DUTY

Further, Karimi claims that when the nurse did not report to work one of her babies, as she played, removed some pipes connected to her nose.

“I contacted a nurse who was at the maternity and said the oxygen pipes were disconnected by the nurse who was on duty during the day. She told me to relax,” she said.

However, the hospital has suspended a male nurse who allegedly neglected his duty leading to the death of the newborn baby in the facility.

Nyambene sub-county hospital Medical Officer of Health Dr Kariuki MN confirmed the suspension to pave way for investigations.

SUSPENDED

“We have suspended one nurse known as Clifford after realizing that he didn’t report to work on that day leading to the death of a premature baby who was in the incubator,” said Dr. Kariuki.

According to Kariuki, the hospital had advised the family to seek legal justice.

“I advised the family to seek legal action against the nurse in question but not the hospital at large,” he said.

Mwiti, the father to the deceased infant, has already reported the matter to Maua Police Station under the OB number 35/20/06/019.

The family is calling upon relevant authorities to send a government pathologist to conduct a postmortem to ascertain the actual cause of death.